I was introduced to Albert Sammons's classic work The Secret of Technique in Violin Playing by Hugh Bean. I was fortunate to play chamber music with Hugh for many years and he maintained that his ability to keep his technical level was largely due to Sammons teaching in general and this book in particular. Hugh was a pupil of Sammons for more than twenty years and believed that this concise work was of great benefit to students and also professional players with limited practice time.

I am very grateful to Mr Richard King, Sammons grandson,and Mrs Mary Bean for allowing me not only to transcribe this work for cello but also to include where appropriate the suggestions Sammons made in his original text and the additional notes that Hugh added in the 2002 edition. I have tried to stay as close as possible to Sammons material but some adaptation has obviously been necessary. I hope that my own comments for cellists will clarify the changes that have been made and are offered as Hugh Bean said in his 2002 edition,in the spirit of wishing to help both aspiring and established string players utilize to the full their practice time.

Although this transcription contains several exercises not found in the classic cello studies of Popper, Duport and Grutzmacher et al, I hope that the unorthodox nature of these exercises will broaden and free the imagination of cellists by providing a more extended approach to cello technique.

Lionel Handy